Our Mega Cup Promotion thoughts

By now we've all heard about the ongoing ESPN Star Sports (ESS) Mega Cup Promotion which gives brands a chance to own an FA Cup regional broadcast sponsorship.

The brand only gets that chance if they commit US$50, 000 media spend on any ESS media platform and submit a proposal on how they would use the prize to promote their own brand or a client's brand.

With such a unique media opportunity just waiting to be utilised, I wonder what marketers and media planners out there have up their sleeves?

Well, it's always fun to put yourself in someone else shoes and spend their money so, let's give this a shot then.

Aside from the fact that I like tennis and that Wimbledon is currently being played out, I reckon it would make sense for a brand who wants to be associated with Wimbledon brand values (prestige, tradition, champions etc) to spend the 50K here. If you happen to win the Mega Cup Promotion and become the FA Cup broadcast sponsor great, your brand can also be associated with the FA Cup, which is also known for being prestigious, having tradition (since 1871), and being a winner.

Now we just have to figure out which brand, then we can talk about how to spend the marketing budget.

A brand like Tiger Beer is a pretty easy selection for me to make. It has been well documented how much the brand has been positioning itself as world class beer to the Asian audience for some time now. If they were keen to keep this image up (or if Wimbledon doesn't have any rules against beer sponsors) then this might seem like a good idea. And again if Tiger wins the Mega Cup Promotion, it can continue pushing the brand's strong existing connection with football and all the other things the FA Cup stands for.

But this time, the media buy is free for Tiger and it gets to execute a creative idea which it designed. (with help from Saatchi & Saatchi).

Tiger would also have the budget for a big TVC to go with the FA Cup sponsorship which can be aired after every commercial break during live matches. And they could change the creative to match topical events which happen during the competition, i.e. what American Express did with Andy Roddick a few years back when they had alternate endings to a TV campaign ready depending on whether he won or lost.

I am a big fan of clever humour in sport sponsorships like what Guinness did with its sponsorship of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour for pool over the last two years.

So another option would be having several TVCs which creatively depict the best ways to enjoy Tiger while watching the FA Cup and then drive the audience to a Facebook fan page where they can vote for their favourite spots, have the ability to post their own versions which can mock / parody the ads, but also give them the chance to interact with the FA Cup brand (maybe through news content, trivia and online games that relive magic moments of the FA Cup, perhaps even give fans a chance to speak directly to special FA Cup guests etc).

Anyways that was my quick take on the competition, and I am actually pretty interested to see what you marketers and media planners come up with. Over to you guys.